1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to liquid crystal displays, more particularly, liquid crystal displays having polarizing or compensating films.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display (LCD) includes a pair of upper and lower panels, and a liquid crystal layer interposed therebetween for housing liquid crystals. The upper panel is provided with a common electrode and color filters; the lower panel is provided with pixel electrodes and thin film transistors (TFTs). The liquid crystals in the liquid crystal layer are subjected to an electric field generated between electrodes of the upper and lower panels. The variation of the field strength changes the molecular orientations of the liquid crystals and the changed molecular orientations in turn change the transmittance of light passing through the liquid crystal display such that desired images are obtained.
Light, an electromagnetic wave, oscillates in directions perpendicular to its moving direction. Generally, the oscillation of light is not confined or biased to a particular direction. Thus, polarizers are used to direct the transmitted light. Generally, polarizers are disposed exterior to the upper or lower panels such that the light transmitted through the liquid crystal layer is polarized.
A compensation film can also be interposed between the polarizer and the upper and lower panels to enhance viewing angle and/or color inversion features of an LCD. The compensation film retards or shifts one component of the light to convert the elliptically polarized light generated by the liquid crystal display cell into linear polarized light, which can be effectively polarized by the polarizer.
Typically, a polarizer and a compensation film are separately disposed in an LCD, by affixing to the panel.